Seismic Behaviour of Building Façades

Up to now the behaviour of the non-structural elements has scarcely been considered in the building seismic design; all the efforts and the design decisions have been in fact mainly focused on the structural components. The observation of the very significant technical and economical damages as well as of the loss of safety consequent to a lack of seismic features and resistance in the building fabric and particularly in the façades (intended as the complex of the external walls and their veneers), envisages the concrete need to extend the seismic design also to these non-structural building parts. The paper will therefore deal with the analysis of the seismic behaviour and damage suffered in Italy by typical external walls and façades veneers with specific reference to the area of L'Aquila, heavily damaged by earthquake in 2009. The damage occurred in L'Aquila to a wide number of selected buildings is discussed and associated to the various types of masonry and veneers. As to the items of the building repair and new constructions in seismic areas, the paper refers to the practical case of the façade's micro ventilated veneers and suggests some basic design and construction criteria for their safe application in areas classified with high probability of earthquake.